Microsoft announces Indian hardware partner for Windows phone 8.1 #Micromax

[Ebenesh]

 

Microsoft and Micromax have been having talks on a partnership for quite some time and looks like the talks have ended positively for micromax. India’s newest hardware partner for Microsoft will be Micromax as they will be bring more cheap and affordable Windows 8.1 handsets to the Indian market. This along with the announcement of the free licensing of their OS for those devices 9″ and less would prove to be a great plus for the Indian market.

Source: TOI

My Original post: TechAlways

[beebskadoo]

The Indian market is booming right now. Inexpensive but high quality phones have been long needed

[SangeetKhatri]

I am an Indian and I don't see any scope in the market for Windows Phone 8.1 phones  made by Micromax. The only reason Windows 8.1 phones are selling good in India is because of the presence Nokia once had in India.

But if you offer an equivalent Android phone to them for even a little more price, then they will choose Android.

People use Android because everyone else does. They want to play the games that their friends does, and unfortunately not everything is available in the MS App store. So, people will use Android more. At least this is the case in India and it is not going to change anytime soon.

 

 

The History Of MicroMax In A Nutshell

 

Micromax started with cheap lower end phones in India like any other Chinese phone manufacturer offering very affordable under $60 feature phones with dual SIM and GPRS which was okay for a normal user. They offered a lot of features for the money, but for the most part their phones used the same software that Chinese phones but the phones looked great and had decent battery backup along with dual sim capabilities, so they sold well for non geeks. At the same time geeks with not so much money were looking for an afforsdable smartphone and Micromax's next phone proved exactly to be that phone..

Micromax then came with a bang with low cost Android phones at 2010 starting off with Micromax Andro A60 for $120 at that time which had  a resistive screen and 2.8" screen and 256MB RAM. That phone was a great success because at the time the price range was dominated by feature phones, Micromax changed that. Then after that they launched a very good phone with 1Ghz Single Core processor (Good for the time) and 512MB RAM and most importantly 5" WVGA screen which was good for the time, it was called Micromax Canvas priced at about $200, it bloomed in sales and everyone was buying it.

Then they launched the Canvas II for same price which offered Dual Core processor, same 512MB RAM and same screen. It was a big hit thanks to the dual core processor which were at that time available only on high end phones like LG Optimus 2x and Samsung Galaxy S2, so it sold for about two years after launch and until recently was still selling great.

Then they launched the Canvas HD for aboout $250. It has a quad core SOC with 1GB RAM and 720p HD screen, again bringing everything to the price bracket that the big companies didn't offered. It was also a big hit.

But after that started to exploit the Canvas brand completely. In about 5-6 months various not so interesting phones started to launch under the Canvas brand name which no one really cared about. There currently are literally 10-15 models with the Canvas branding and most of them suck completely. This is where Micromax started to get demoted. They crapped their best brand which had at that time gained a lot of value for consumers. Eventually people started looking Canvas series as nothing more than the other phones and nowadays no one buys Micromax that often.

So, with their brand value insanely down recently, I highly doubt that they would be able to pull off with Windows Phone. They should not have crapped their Canvas brand. It was the best thing in that company. Talk about mismanagement, this is a good example of that.

[Ebenesh]

The Indian market is booming right now. Inexpensive but high quality phones have been long needed

 

At least that's whats needed  

with phones like the Moto G the micromax phones don't really pose great value.

 

FOR EXAMPLE : 20,000 units being sold out on Flipkart within hours of the launch on February 6.

[beebskadoo]

At least that's whats needed

with phones like the Moto G the micromax phones don't really pose great value.

 

FOR EXAMPLE : 20,000 units being sold out on Flipkart within hours of the launch on February 6.

Moto G is a fantastic piece of hardware!

[Ebenesh]

Moto G is a fantastic piece of hardware!

(for the price) YES !

[Hulk]

-snip-

But people still do buy that phone since its a really good value, dare I say even better than the MotoG. The only thing that Micromax lacks is developer support and CS since they don't support phones all that long. Als, they haven't exploited their Canvas brand at all. Just go to their website, click on the 15,000 and above, and boom, you only have their higher end models. I do though agree with the point that most people will choose Android here, especially since it offers much more at a lower price than what Windows does.

 

On another note, this is great news! Assuming they get the price right, this can definitely launch a competitive product; but I question one thing- how will they differ their Windows from their Android side of things?

[SangeetKhatri]

But people still do buy that phone since its a really good value, dare I say even better than the MotoG. The only thing that Micromax lacks is developer support and CS since they don't support phones all that long. Als, they haven't exploited their Canvas brand at all. Just go to their website, click on the 15,000 and above, and boom, you only have their higher end models. I do though agree with the point that most people will choose Android here, especially since it offers much more at a lower price than what Windows does.

 

On another note, this is great news! Assuming they get the price right, this can definitely launch a competitive product; but I question one thing- how will they differ their Windows from their Android side of things?

 

For everyone who loves battery backup, for those guys Windows Phone definitely holds an advantage, but I am not sure if Micromax would use the most efficient chips inside like Nokia does.

Also I highly doubt that they would be able to provide an experience better than the Lumia 520 or 525 in the Rs. 7500 and Rs. 9000 price bracket. At that price the Lumia challenges a lot of Android phones too. I don't really see any scope for Micromax Windows phones because Nokia is blooming with their Windows Phone in that price bracket currently. Anyways, I would like to see what happens next, but I won't bet my money on Micromax at all at the moment.